


Good Enough For Me

by Slaymin



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Bros on the Road, College AU, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut in later chapter, M/M, Noctis being a bitch-ass, Prompto is a treasure that must be protected, Twist on the canonical universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-13 22:56:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11195208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slaymin/pseuds/Slaymin
Summary: What would you do if you met the love of your life, only to know it could never be? Noctis Lucis Caelum, crown prince of Insomnia and college freshman, finds himself falling in love among the waterways of Altissia to a boy with a knack for pictures and seeing the brighter parts of life. Follow Noct on his journey to find himself in between classes, learning to rule a kingdom, and falling in love with the one person he know he shouldn't.May contain minor FFXV spoilers and may become NSFW later on.





	Good Enough For Me

“That’ll be 350 gil.”

            “Thanks.” Noctis took out his leather wallet and pulled out his cash. He gave it to the blonde cashier, their hands touching with the transaction. Noctis looked up at the young man, about the same age as him, fixating on the blonde’s piercing blue eyes.

            “Your drink will come out over on the left counter, Noctis.” The blonde told them as he pulled his hand away from Noctis’s, putting the gil into the register.

            “Wait. How did you know my name?” Noctis asked in surprise. He was sure he hadn’t mentioned his name during the cashier-customer interaction. Why would he? Sure, he was extremely well-known back home in Lucis, but here in Accordo, he wasn’t the royal celebrity he was 365 days out of the year.

            “Oh,” the cashier responded, blushing a little. “It’s on your wallet.” He pointed at Noctis’ wallet and sure enough, above the Lucian crest was, embroidered in royal calligraphy, his first name: Noctis. “Sorry if I surprised you though, Noctis. I’m just your over-friendly, slightly-awkward, neighborhood cashier.” This garnered a chuckle from the stoic Lucian prince, his dark blue eyes gaining a small sparkle.

            “Well,” Noctis squinted to read the blonde’s slightly smudged nametag, “Prompto, it’s hard to come by genuinely friendly people where I’m from, so you’re a surprisingly refreshing treat.” Prompto laughed at that; Noctis being unaware of how, weird, that last statement was. Noctis would have reacted more quickly to his social blunder if he wasn’t so focused on the light blue of Prompto’s eyes. He had never seen eyes that were so reflective of the blue of the sky. “What did I say?” Noctis asked when he realized Prompto had been laughing rather loudly for a quite some time.

            “I guess I’m a treat.” The blonde replied, raising his eyebrows flirtatiously. When he realized what he said, Noctis’s cheeks grew redder than a cherry. “That’s not what I meant…” Noctis replied, shyly averting his gaze from the sky-blue eyes in front of him. “Oh, Noctis. Don’t be embarrassed. It was cute.” Prompto winked again at the young Prince. Noctis shrugged his shoulders, still shaken by his social blunder, even if Prompto didn’t seem to mind. How could he, a crown prince, next in line to the Lucian throne, have said something so, not socially acceptable? Was it socially acceptable?

            “I have a green milk tea on the bar.”

            “Well, Noct. I’m going to call you Noct for short, by the way, because Noctis is too long” Prompto started, after Noctis’ drink was called out on the bar. “Your drink’s ready and I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

            “What do you mean?” Noct asked him, not knowing what he meant by tomorrow. Did this Prompto know something about his plans for the next day that he himself didn’t even know?

            “You always come around this time, dude.” Prompto chuckled, “When you’re a cashier at the same café on the same days in the same summer, you tend to notice the same customers who come in and what they order.” Noctis’ tilted his head a little in confusion to this. Was he that predictable? Prompto continued: “Like I know you always get a green milk tea when you come in around two o’clock in the afternoon, like clockwork. I swear I’m not stalking you or anything like that either. I just notice a lot of people, especially when they’re so routine.”

            “I guess I’m just your average green milk tea drinking regular then, aren’t I?” Noctis asked, after taking in everything the blonde cashier said, leaving his drink to sit out just a tad bit longer.

            “You could say that you are, Noct.” Prompto winked again at Noctis, “See you tomorrow.”

            Noctis said bye as well, dropping a 50 gil tip into the cutely designed tip jar next to Prompto’s register. On the glass jar in gold ink said, “Here’s a TIP: Don’t eat yellow snow,” and underneath was a picture of a poorly drawn but distinguishable chocobo. The chocobo in all its golden feathery glory was squatting a tad, dropping out its gold. _I bet Prompto drew that_ , Noctis thought as he left the counter, imagining his chocobo back home pooping on his hand when he first got him. Although he was twenty years old and grew up in a castle with all its rules and regulation and “high society,” Noctis was still a boy at heart. And poop would always be funny.

            He picked up his drink, thanking the barista. Did he always come in at the same time? Noctis thought to himself when he walked out of the café, sipping on his tea.

Altissia in the afternoon was almost as beautiful as it was in the morning and night, but honestly, Altissia was and would always be the epitome of beauty. Just walking along the waterway, Noctis could feel the collective Altissian emotion rising between the cobblestone sidewalks, floating through the alleyways, falling from the flower-lined balconies. Everyone in Altissia waved to their neighbors and didn’t just make insignificant small talk about the weather (although Altissia in the dead of July was rather warm, way warmer than Insomnia). Noctis noticed that the people actually stopped what they were doing and listened to their friends, their shopkeepers, their strangers. To a city born and raised boy like him, this was completely new. Altissia was completely foreign. Not just in the fact that he was out of his home country but because their culture, their way of life was so drastically different. Maybe that’s why his father so strongly suggested Noctis to go on this trip before starting college.

            Sky-blue eyes flashed into his mind, smiling, recognizing him as a regular. No one would have done that in Insomnia unless it was to ask for his autograph or to ask him to speak at a ribbon cutting ceremony or to be his “friend” which always ended up with them just wanting to be friends with a prince, not Noctis himself. Real friends and kindness in Insomnia were hard to come by, but here in Altissia, it seemed to come in just like the ocean breeze.

            Noctis continued down the walkway that led, well, he didn’t exactly know where. It was not even three o’clock, he hadn’t made much of a dent into his drink, and he didn’t have much planned for the rest of the day. One would assume that the crown prince of the arguably most influential nation in Eos would have some sort of plan for his day and if he was back in Lucis, in Insomnia, one would be correct. Every day in Insomnia, from the day Noctis was born, was completely planned by his father, the council, or just “princely duties.” From constant combat practice with his assigned Crownsguard, Gladiolus (Gladio for short), to trying, and almost always failing, to learn to cook with his assigned adviser Ignis, he barely had any time for himself.

            But here in Altissia, an ocean away from his citadel home, Noctis was free. Free from itineraries, from mandatory etiquette classes (because who cares which fork you use first if the food tastes good, right?). Free from the burden of being the crown prince who would someday take the throne from his father and be stuck in Insomnia every day of every year. _How many times has my father left Insomnia in the past year?_ Noctis asked himself as he passed the raucous Arena Galviano where Totomostro was held, with all the monsters’ roars and people’s cheers. There were so many things outside of the Crown City that he hadn’t experienced yet, so many people. Would he have ever talked to a person like Prompto if he was stuck in Insomnia all his life? Would he be stuck in the citadel all his life, being the King that his father was?

            Shaking himself from these encroaching fears, Noctis entered the Totomostro arena to see what all the ruckus was about. It was four o’clock by the time he got there, a lot of his time lost to riding in the gondolas that took the place of cars. Even though they took a lot longer than cars, the gondolas were relaxing. Sitting in a small boat being rowed by another person and just allowing himself to take a break was probably the greatest escape Noctis could imagine. Instead of the hustle and bustle and traffic and honks of his upbringing, he was surrounded by slow moving gondolas on raised waterways, tiled sidewalks with flowers blooming between the cracks, and no highways in sight.

            “Place your bets!” Noctis put in 50000 gil into one of the four monster bets on the board. _When in Altissia, do as the Altissians do._ Ignis’ guiding voice rang in Noctis’ head before he had put in the bet. He had seen people put in upwards of 10000 gil or just 500 gil and he thought maybe he should go in half. But, being a prince, money was never an issue so he didn’t really care. However, the monster he had bet one was a complete guess to him. He probably could have paid attention more in Lucian Environments class in high school, but that’s beside the point.

            Noctis wasn’t entirely sure why he decided to go to the Totomostro arena; he wasn’t the keenest on gambling as a person. One of his high school classmate’s fathers had lost everything to gambling and tore apart their family, so naturally, gambling wasn’t the greatest subject to him. And why would a prince need to gamble? But like Ignis had said, Noctis was determined on doing just as the Altissians did and there was quite a bit of people in the arena. Everyone was cheering and having a great time; Noctis had never seen anything like it before. Sure, he had been to weddings as a child where everyone was happy, and people seemed to enjoy themselves at the parties thrown at the citadel from time to time. But to see so many people come together in one arena to bet on monsters tearing each other apart limb from limb was nothing short of extraordinary. The monsters were the celebrities and Noctis was just another person in the crowd, cheering them on.

            “Noct!” Noctis turned around to the familiar-sounding voice that he heard through the screaming crowd. Blond, coiffed hair became visible to the dark-haired prince, and then sky-blue eyes. “Hey, Prompto, right?” Noctis asked after his newfound cashier friend made his way to him. “Yeah! You remembered!” Prompto seemed especially excited at that, gesturing to the “bro” greeting where two “bros” would do a sideways high-five, followed by a fist bump. Noctis, however, because he grew up in a stuff castle for most of his life, did not know what to do with Prompto’s outstretched hand. So, he took Prompto’s hand and shook it. Prompto laughed at that, followed by Noctis asking what he did wrong.

            “Dude, you’re supposed to slap my hand with a high-five and then do a fist bump!” Prompto said before taking Noctis’ hand and acting out the bro greeting. “It’s what you do with your friends, your bros.!”

            “I guess we don’t do that in Insomnia,” Noctis replied after he had learned this new bro thing to do. “Or at least I don’t.”

            “Dang. Sounds like Insomnia sucks. Altissia is so laid-back, I love it here!” Prompto cheered, fitting the crowd’s cheers. Noctis looked at the blonde in awe. Like the rest of the crowd, he was caught up in the excitement and just seemed genuinely happy. He turned back to Noctis, smiling again. “So, what monster did you bet on?” Noctis looked at him in confusion for a hot second, before he remembered why he was even in the arena. He was so caught up in the reverie that he forgot that he had bet on a monster.

            “Umm, let me check. Team Blaster Bro.” Noctis read from his wager receipt. “I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.”

            “Alright, Coeurl’s are pretty solid here, blasting people with their lasers” Prompto replied, making laser noises and guns with his hands. Noctis chuckled at his silliness. “I’m not sure why they give the monster’s weird team names though, like Blaster Bro and Ravatogh Runners. Like all I want to know is how hard I’m going to whoop your butt in here with my Wyverns.”

            “Did you just say that you think you’re going to beat me?” Noctis asked playfully.

            “You know it, dude. Your Coeurl may shoot laser beams out of its long whiskers but my wyverns shoot fire and fly around and are D R A G O N S. Have you ever heard of a lion tiger thing ever beating a freaking dragon?” Noctis hesitated for a split second, not fully registering what his blonde friend had said. “Didn’t think so, because dragons are way better than overgrown kittens.”

            “Now entering the arena: Blaster Bro, Ravatogh Runners, and Spiny Speedsters! Place your bets! Let the games begin!”

“Well, Prompto,” Noctis started, “May the best monster win. And by best, I mean mine. And by win, I mean completely annihilate your stupid dragons.”

 

* * *

 

           

“That. Was. So. Rigged!!!” Prompto exclaimed as he and Noctis walked out of the arena. “How. The. Fuck. Does a tiny ass cactus with arms that dances around like a two-year old child beat three dragons and a laser cat?!” During the monster battle, the three wyverns and Coeurl immediately went at each other’s throats. The Coeurl shooting its lightning laser beams at the flying lizards and the lizard bat things shooting fire at the electric feline. However, the ferocious monsters somehow forgot about the third combatant, the Cactuar, who from the sidelines, kept shooting thousands upon thousands of tiny needles at them. Not even the lightning beams could stop the barrage of needles and in almost no time at all, the cat and dragons laid dead on the floor while the cactus danced victoriously over their cold dead carcasses.

            “Simmer down, Blondie,” Noctis said, patting his newfound friend on the shoulders. “I don’t think the monsters really cared about who bet on them so it can’t be rigged, right?”

            “Oh contraire, my dark-haired friend. That’s what they want you to think!” Prompto laughed, jumping on a bench and standing like he owned it. “Oh, but first. I love the name Blondie, and you can call me that from now on.”

            “Thanks for your permission,” Noctis told him, looking up to his elevated friend. “I guess I’ll let you keep calling me Noct then. Because you know, I didn’t give you permission for that.”  

            Prompto laughed as they kept walking towards the nearest gondola station, him jumping from bench to bench and Noctis walking below him. “Y’know, Noct. We haven’t formally met yet!” He jumped down from the bench right in front of Noctis, their faces extremely close. If Noctis would have been even an inch closer, their lips would have touched (kissed). But that’s beside the point. “I’m Prompto Argentum!”

            “You’re right,” Noctis said, a little reserved, taking a step back from the blonde. “I’m Noctis…” He hesitated for a second. _Do I tell him my full name?_ If he did, Prompto would surely know that he was the Crown Prince of Lucis and then their budding, friendship? Would be ruined. Just, like all potential friendships had been before. “…Hester.” He did it. He lied and used Gladio’s butler’s last name. But it was a small white lie, right? It would never come back to haunt him, duh. Lies don’t do that.

            “Awesome!” Prompto exclaimed, “You know, Noct. I knew you and your green milk tea would be cool!”

            “Is that why you came up to me in the Arena?” Noct asked, after they started walking again. They passed a couple food carts, selling all kinds of food that Noctis would refuse to eat on a regular day. His stomach grumbled with the force of a raging Garula. “Yeah, you could say that, Mr. Hungry-Pants.” Prompto replied, noting his friends, very vocal hunger. “Like, everyone here in Altissia is super nice and stuff but like, you seemed so, I don’t know. Cool.” He pushed Noctis’ shoulder, pointing towards a cart selling what seemed to be some type of edible food, maybe. “And like I really wanted to get to know you! I hope that’s not creepy.”

            “No, it’s not creepy!” Noctis said following the blonde to the cart, “You Altissians are just really friendly! Way different than from where I’m from.” Noctis added, recalling how cold Insomnia could be.

            “You’re totally right, Altissians are really friendly. Probably has to do with the great weather all year round, except you know how hot it was today.” Prompto started which made Noctis realize that the sun was already starting to lower in the sky. “But I’m actually not from here.”

            “Wait,” Noctis stopped, “Then where are you from?”

            “First things first, Noct. What do you want from this fine food establishment on wheels? My treat.”

            “No, No, Prompto, I can pay for my own food.” Noctis replied, reaching his hand into his pocket to get his wallet. Prompto slapped Noctis’s hand away from his pocket, coming really close to his, anyway… “I told you I got you! You’re a tourist, and I’m like a local nowadays and like a good host, I’m the one who should pay. So. What. Do. You. Want, Noct?”

            “If I let you pay now, I get to pay next time then,” Noctis replied. He was a prince, not a freeloader. Money was no object to him, obviously, so paying for a snack from a small food cart was basically nothing in the grand schemes of his bottomless pockets. “So, there’s a next time, then, huh?” Prompto winked, pushing Noctis’ shoulder again. “Wait that’s not what I-”“I’ll take one fine pickled Altissian Cucumber and whatever my fine young associate wants,” Prompto told the cart worker, gesturing to Noctis to give his order and completely ignoring Noctis’ previous attempt at a rebuttal. The young prince examined the food selection and was utterly disappointed: it was almost all vegetables. Cucumber, carrots, broccoli, and the list goes on. _What kind of food selling establishment only sells nasty vegetables?_ “Ummm, do you have anything that isn’t a vegetable?” Noctis asked the worker, quietly hoping that Prompto wouldn’t hear. “Sorry man, this is a vegetable cart. I think the only thing that someone who doesn’t like vegetables would like would be our candied corn. It’s got housemade Altissian caramel on it but it’s still corn.”

“I guess I’ll take that…” Noctis replied, sadly. If Prompto wasn’t there, Noct would not have even stepped close enough to see the horrific vegetables on the cart. But, if Prompto was going to potentially be a friend of Noct’s, he would have to understand that vegetables were not going to fly. Ever. “That’ll be 200 gil,” The cashier told the two, Prompto pulled out his grungy wallet and took out 200 gil, emptying his funds. “Much obliged.”

“You don’t like vegetables do you, Noct?” Prompto asked, noting Noctis’s candied corn, which was dripping in caramel and high fructose corn sugar and just unhealthy stuff.

“How could you tell?” Noct asked, eyeing Prompto’s cucumber suspiciously. How someone could just eat something like that plain was blasphemous to him.

“I totally overheard you ask the guy ‘dO yOu HaVe AnYtHiNg ThAt iSn’T a VeGeTaBlE?’” Prompto mocked him, “Vegetables are good for you and like some of them are really great!” Prompto raised his cucumber in the arm triumphantly, mirroring the statue behind him.

“If this is what you people do in Altissia, I want to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be part of, since the day I first tasted a carrot.”

Prompto shoved Noctis’ shoulder, laughing. “Damn dude, that’s intense. Like vegetables aren’t as good as you know, ice cream or caramel or whatever the heck is on your corn, but like they’re pretty good. Like look at this cucumber.” Prompto waved his cucumber in Noct’s face, “It’s like perfectly crunchy and savory, not too sweet, just salty enough. Altissia does it well.” Prompto jumped just thinking about the briny gourd.

“If you could keep your nasty ass gourd out of my face, that would be great,” Noctis told his blonde friend, “Blondie, if we’re going to be friends, you gotta know that vegetables are the bane of my existence. I’d rather jump off the Rock of Ravatogh with no parachute than eat a cucumber.”

“You are one dramatic dude,” Prompto said as they approached the gondola station. “I dig it. But, by the end of the summer, you’re going to eat a cucumber. I’ll make sure of it.”

 

* * *

 

 

Prompto sat across from Noctis on the gondola, as they headed towards Palsino Street, one Altissia’s main streets. The sun had completely set and the waters were lit only by streetlights and the moon. Noctis alternated from studying Prompto’s mannerisms and gazing at the reflections of the city on the now black sea. One could see almost all of Altissia in the water’s reflection, all of its grandeur, even at night. At times, Noctis would lean over the side of the gondola and placed his hand in the water, creating ripples in the reflections. Every gondola ride was a new experience for him; he almost forgot about his blonde companion who had be studying Noct just as he was.

“Hey Prompto,” Noctis started, “If you don’t mind me asking and I hope I’m not overstepping any boundaries or anything. Like if you don’t want to answer it, you don’t have to. I’m just kinda curious is all and-”

“Noct, slow down.” Prompto interrupted, “You haven’t asked your question yet. What’s up?”

“When you paid for the food back there, although vegetables aren’t food obviously, did you use all the gil in your wallet?” Noctis said shakily. Would Prompto act harshly with Noct’s questioning of his finances? “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything like if I said something way out of line like you don-”

“Noctis, please.” Prompto reached across and put his hand on Noctis’ thigh, “You don’t need to be embarrassed for asking me about it. It’s fine.” Prompto returned to his original position and smiled at his dark-haired friend. “It was the only gil I had in my wallet. And-”

“Wait, then why didn’t you let me pay then? At least for myself like I wouldn’t have minded like mon-”

“Noct, let me finish though,” Prompto said, somewhat laughing. “It’s not what I think you think it is, if that makes sense. I don’t keep that much gil on me at a time. And I put in half of it in at the arena and then second half at the cart.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Noctis started, “If you don’t mind me asking-”          

“Do you really think I’ll mind you asking me anything, Noct?” Prompto teased, reaching down into the water, and… splashing Noct playfully. The gondolier rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything; he wasn’t paid to care.

“Blondie, I’ll get you back for that, when you least expect it.” Noctis laughed, “Why do you not keep a lot of gil on you? Like don’t you need to it pay for stuff? Like don’t-” Maybe people usually don’t keep gil with them at all times, Noctis really didn’t know. He had a platinum credit card that could buy almost anything his heart desired, one of the blessings of being a prince. And curse.

“I’m not poor, Noct, if that’s what you’re getting at,” Prompto said, somewhat seriously but also kindly, “Like I have money, I just don’t use it. And-”

“Oh no, Prompto I didn’t mean to offend you, crap. Just lost another friend, even before we were really friends.” Noct turned away. _Why are my eyes watering?_ Noct asked himself as his eyes started to burn with briny tears. _Why do I always push people away?_ A hand touched his shoulder. “Noct, you didn’t offend me. I’m sorry that you thought that you hurt my feelings or anything. And the only way you’re going to lose me is if like you literally got lost in Altissia and I couldn’t find you.”

Noct, slyly wiping away any signs of pre-tears, turned around to face Prompto who had moved next to him. “Sorry for getting so, weoird, back there.” He apologized to his blonde friend. “It’s probably hard to tell but I’m not actually very good at making friends, or keeping them. Back home, I’m kinda a loner.”

“Dang, Noct. That’s rough. You’re like a really cool dude, and I don’t know why more people wouldn’t want to be your friend.” “We’ll it’s not just-” “But who cares about those people? All you need it me!” Prompto stood up quickly to be the triumphant hero, precariously rocking the boat to the quiet gondolier’s chagrin. However, Prompto started to lose his balance, waving his arms in comic distress. Then he fell right into Noctis’s lap, laughing. “I guess you could say I just fell for you,” Prompto chuckled, looking up at his friend whose lap he was in. Noctis joined in the laughing. The gondolier’s stoic expression showed a slight smirk at how bad of a corny pick-up line it was.

 

* * *

 

 

“You said you were from Insomnia, right Noct?” Prompto asked Noctis as they passed the Leville, the premier hotel in Altissia. Only the richest of the richest could even imagine staying there; Noctis would have stayed there if it was up to him. But instead, he was staying all summer with his father’s longtime friend, Weskham Armaugh, who owned a flourishing and floating restaurant, Maagho. People came from all around Eos to try the food at Maagho, take basic pictures with the food, and tell all of their lower-class friends that they got to try the most expensive dish in all of Eos: Maagho’s Fine Caviar Canape at a whopping 300,000 gil.

“Yeah, I did, Blondie,” Noct replied, keeping in step with his newfound friend. “Why?”

“Well, I graduated high school this past June and I applied to two universities like: Gralea University, and University of Lucis, Insomnia. I didn’t get into Insomnia so I was wondering what it’s like there.”

“Well,” Noctis started, walking a bit slower when thinking of his home. “It’s a really big city. Like imagine Altissia, times five. Without the water, without the warmth. It’s kind of cold there but if you’re into big cities where it’s super easy to get lost and feel like you’re really, really, really small, Insomnia is the city for you.”

“Dang, you sell a good bargain. Insomnia sounds great!” Prompto said sarcastically. Noctis sighed. “Insomnia isn’t all that bad. It’s just, not going to lie, I think I’ve had a much better time during my month here in Altissia than I’ve had in my twenty years in Insomnia. But it is still pretty great. Like it is really big and there’s a lot of different kinds of people and there’s never a shortage of things to do. Like it’s a big city is all.”

“Alright dude,” Prompto said as they came up to Maagho. “You obviously have something against Insomnia so I guess it’s good I didn’t get in.”

“I guess…” Noctis said despondently. It would have been cool to him for Prompto to have gone to the same school. He could have had a friend going into college before all of the fakes tried to buddy up to him. They reached the restaurant and even though it was almost 11:00 o’clock, business was still booming. “I had a lot of fun today, Blondie.” Noctis started, somewhat awkwardly.

“Yeah so did I, Noct.” Prompto replied, rubbing his hand behind his head like he wanted to say something more. He did. “You’re much cooler than I thought you were going to be.”

“How so?” Noctis asked.

“Well, you seemed so dark and mysterious. Like what’s up with all the black? Anyway, I’m glad I found you at the arena today is all I’m trying to get at.” Noctis chuckled at that. Why did he always wear black? “I’m glad you found me too…” An awkward silence emanated in the air between them.

“Well, I’ll see you around?” Prompto asked. He began to walk down the steps. “Wait, no.” Noctis said, grasped Prompto’s hand in a plea for him to stay. _What am I doing?!_ Noctis asked himself. “Ummm, when will I see you again?”

“Can’t get enough of the blonde, can you?” Prompto asked, jokingly. If he noticed the desperation in Noctis’ voice, he didn’t show it. Noctis laughed at that, albeit rather awkwardly. “Guess not.”

“Well, tomorrow’s Friday, so I’ll see you when you come in for your green milk tea. But after work, I was planning on going down to the Marina and taking a sailboat to one of the islands to take some shots.”

“Shots?” Noctis asked, triggering memories of some of his drunken exploits with Gladio and Iggy’s disproval. But those are stories for other times.

“You know,” Prompto gestured to the camera strap that was hanging around his neck. “With my camera. Did you not see me taking pictures the entire night?”

“Huh,” Noctis stuttered. Thinking back on the day, he hadn’t explicitly recalled Prompto taking pictures. “I guess not. I guess I’m not a very observant person.” “Well, when I get them developed, I’ll show you the sick pics I took tonight. That’s what I want to go to college for too. Photography. But anyway, do you want to join me to the islands? It would be nice to have some company.”

“I’d love to, Blondie.” Noctis said, somewhat nonchalantly, somewhat excitedly. Inside though, he was 120% excited. Let’s be real. This was going to be his first time hanging out with a friend in Altissia, not counting the day he just had.

“Alright, Noct, it’s a date.” Prompto winked, jumping down the three steps to the main street.

“Sounds good,” Noct replied, internally screaming. An actual friend who didn’t know he was a prince, or at least didn’t mention it at all if he did.

“Alright see you tomorrow, can’t wait.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“By the way, Weskham. I’m going to be out all tomorrow. So, I won’t be able to help in the restaurant, if that’s alright.”

“Finally, found some friends here in Altissia? It’s fine. Business is going to be slow tomorrow, something about a big political talk or something.”

“Yeah I made a cool friend today. We’re going to the islands off the coast to take some nature pictures and stuff.”

“Sounds good, Prince. Oh, and you have some mail.” Weskham handed Noctis a crisp white envelope, with the Tenebraen Seal. Had to have been from Lunafreya.

“Thanks, and please don’t call me Prince. It’s Noctis, or Noct for short, please.”

“Alright, ‘Noctis’,” Weskham replied, emphasizing his name. “I think it’s cute how you and your girlfriend still write each other letters. Who said romance was dead?’

Noctis chuckled at that. “Good Night.” Sky-blue eyes and blonde hair flashed into his head right before he went to sleep. But they weren’t his girlfriend’s.

_Crap_.

 

 

 

 


End file.
